Thursday, September 09, 2010

Unorthodox traditions

Excellent long form journalism by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair, looking at the teetering pile of crockery known as Greece. HT from the Greek Chorus of Felix Salmon, The Economist, Tyler Cowen, Andrew Sullivan, Dim Post, Quote Unquote and Bernard Hickey.

The ferry trip to the dark heart of Orthodoxy, where allegedly ascetic priests have used guilt to leverage land deals in order to renovate their holy sites, reminds me of 1990's Russia. Huge sums were spent there retrieving religious idols and doing up the orthodox spires while the masses starved. Quote Unquote shows how little has changed, linking to a story on how to buy lightbulbs in Russia.

And lest NZ gets too smug about our enlightened way of life, Hone Harawira points to our own skewed justice system, where jail sentences for Pineapple Lump theft are meted out, whilst multi-million dollar inbred transactions by South Canterbury Finance doesn't so much as get a slap on the wrist. HT Simon Pound.